Durepo v. Fishman’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 19 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The Maine wrongful death statute contained no provision for the recovery of damages “for the loss of comfort, society and companionship of the deceased” until P.L.1967, ch. 369, which even then did not include a child in the class of its beneficiaries and which limited aggregate recovery to $5,000. The legislature increased that aggregate limit to $10,000 in P.L.1969, ch. 266. Not until P.L.1977, ch. 192 did the legislature adopt the forerunner of our present 18-A M.R.S.A. § 2-804, ... which for the first time permitted damages for psychic loss by children in a wrongful death action; but under that 1977 enactment any recovery for the psychic harm suffered by all beneficiaries of the deceased was limited to $10,000 in the aggregate. The legislature in P.L.1981, ch. 213 raised the ceiling on that aggregate recovery to ... $50,000.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 38 F. Supp. 2d 142 - Feighery v. York Hospital

2. “the elected legislature, directly accountable to the citizens of Maine, is far better situated to make [that judgment] than is the unelected judiciary.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Henriksen v. Cameron